Glad to see that there is now a Drupal Group for National/Federal & State/Province Drupal installs as well as the previous one for Local Governments. I had tried to set up a general Government Group, but for some reason at the time it was rejected.
I'm assuming that this isn't just a USA focused group. If so, we've got to create a group for the rest of the world. In anycase, I set up a Drupal in Government group on Facebook that has a bit of a Canadian focus (since that's where some of my business is).
OpenConcept also organized a Drupal in Government Showcase. There does seem to be considerable interest in Drupal within government.
As with many government sites, there were concerns about accessibility. Taking on improving accessibility in D7 is something we did largely because it will make adoption within the government much easier. If this is important for your clients, please take the time to look through and comment in the issue queue before Sept 1st.
Comments
Very glad to see this focus!
Thank you for the accessibility work. The local government group is certainly for the smallest units of government worldwide and i think the regional/national group should be the same.
ben, agaric
benjamin, agaric
Thanks Ben.
That makes sense to me. And yes, accessibility is one other area where people are looking to explain why open source isn't an option. I'd assert that it is only through an educated open source community that we'll ever see really accessible sites for our public & private institutions.
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OpenConcept | Twitter @mgifford | Drupal Security Guide
They're blaming the tool for the faults of the worker
Absolutely, Mike, education is the key. I really appreciate how receptive the Drupal community has been to information about accessibility.
As for those who cite accessibility issues with existing sites as a reason not to use Drupal, they are essentially blaming the tool for the way the worker used it. Keeping sites accessible in any system that allows widespread participation in content development is a challenge specifically because accessibility depends on two factors:
Saying that governmental agencies shouldn't use Drupal because not all content produced in Drupal is accessible is a little like saying that no one should use screwdrivers because nails bend when you whack them with the handle of a screwdriver to drive them in.
I'm really looking forward to when D7 is released, because then I'll be able to delete "a little" from that statement.
Thanks
Yes, Druipal can be as accessible as people want it to be.
There's so much that's possible to make it more accessible, but already out of the box it's one of the best CMS's out there for accessibility.
D7 is looking good. And there are lots of ways to add even more accessibility given the groundwork that's already been done.
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